The Hillsdale College men’s tennis team won their second straight match with a 4-3 win over Lake Superior State University, while sophomore Brennan Cimpeanu inched closer to making program history.
The Chargers were led by their top four players, Cimpeanu, junior Tyler Conrad, and sophomores Sean Barstow and Daniel Gilbert. Cimpeanu won his fifth G-MAC Player of the Week award, only one shy of the most in Hillsdale program history, held by Charlie Adams ‘20.
“It’s crazy to even think about,” Cimpeanu said. “I had a really good freshman year and I didn’t even think it could get better. I feel blessed to even think about this. It was never something I even considered while being on the tennis team here. I just planned on playing tennis and playing the best I could for my coach, team, and school and I’m very thankful for all of the opportunities given to me”
Cimpeanu continued his hot start back from injury at No. 1 doubles, winning 6-0, 6-2. In his four sets over two weekends, he has only dropped seven total games in singles play.
Barstow and Conrad won at No. 1 doubles 6-4, while Cimpeanu and Gilbert won at No. 2 doubles 6-2.
When all four are in the lineup, the Chargers are 16-4 over the past two seasons since Barstow, Cimpeanu, and Gilbert came to Hillsdale.
Junior Bogdan Janicijevic and sophomore Sam Clyde lost at No. 3 doubles 6-2.
“Brennan has a lot of weapons that win us a lot of points and set up some easy volleys for myself at the net,” Gilbert said. “Also, my steady ground stroke game mixed with his more aggressive style compliment each other perfectly.”
Conrad fell just short after two tiebreaks at No. 2 singles, falling 6-2, 6-7 (4), 9-11, while Barstow won at No. 3 singles 6-3, 6-1. Gilbert grabbed a win at No. 4 singles 6-2, 6-1 to bring the Chargers the 4-3 victory.
The Chargers are now set to travel to Florida to take on the No. 9 ranked team in Division II, Saint Leo University, on Sunday, March 13 before playing Florida Southern on Monday.
“The competition is going to be as strong as we’ve faced all year,” Head Coach Keith Turner said. “We’ll be able to compete at certain spots in the lineup but it’s going to be a huge challenge. It will be a good experience for us to play against players that are at a level that we won’t see the rest of the year.”
Cimpeanu said that every match since returning from injury has been tough.
“I’m just praying that I can stay healthy for the match and play as best as I can,” Cimpeanu said. “I know it will be a very tough match but I’m excited to see what my team and I can do in Florida.”
After this trip, the Chargers enter the conference portion of their schedule, facing off against Ashland University first on Saturday, March 19. Ashland entered the G-MAC in the fall and this is the first match between the two since the 2019-20 season.
Ashland has started the spring season 3-6 in its first year in the G-MAC.
“Ashland has some strong players at the top of their lineup,” Turner said. “It will be a close match. Hopefully we can get the doubles point. If we do so we have confidence in our singles lineup that we can pull out the match.”
Due to the injury concerns the Chargers have faced, they have added junior Matt Granzotto from the Hillsdale club tennis team to the roster.
“Matt is someone that is friends with our other walk-on Sam Clyde,” Turner said. “Matt is a good athlete and I think he’ll probably get into some matches after spring break. At the very least he’s someone who can help us out in case we have any illness or injury issues the rest of the year.”
While the Chargers are the defending G-MAC Champions, Gilbert says there is no added intensity playing the G-MAC newcomers in Ashland.
“We leave it all out there every time we step foot on the court,” Gilbert said. “Obviously there will be a little more sense of urgency coming into G-MAC play. Our intensity will remain 100% no matter who we play or what the circumstance is.”